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Janice Ellis <br />From: <br />Lisa Wright <br />Sent: <br />Friday, June 20, 2008 8:00 AM <br />To: <br />Janice Ellis <br />Subject: <br />FOR ABS <br />-----Original Message----- <br />From: Lewis F. McLain, Jr. [mailto:news@citybase.net] <br />Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 9:00 AM <br />To: Lisa Wright <br />Subject: Fort Worth: asbestos-laden building demolished in test method <br />Posted on Tue, Dec. 18, 2007 <br />Asbestos-laden building demolished in test <br />By Mike Lee and Scott Streater <br />Star-Telegram staff writer <br />FORT WORTH The city and the federal Environmental Protection Agency knocked down an <br />asbestos-laden building on Monday using a controversial "wet" demolition method. <br />The demolition at the Oak Hollow apartments on the city's east side was the first test of the <br />new method in a populated area. The city notified the media about the demolition after work <br />had begun Monday morning. <br />A spokesman for a national environmental group called the test "the height of <br />irresponsibility," but a City Council member defended it. <br />"The tests have been done a couple of times before. If they didn't feel, from those tests, it <br />was safe to bring into a populated area, they wouldn't be here," said City Councilman Danny <br />Scarth, whose district includes the building. <br />Only one building, the complex's office building, was demolished. The rest of the complex <br />will be taken down using methods already approved by the EPA. <br />Dave Bary, an EPA spokesman, said the EPA and the Department of State Health Services agreed <br />not to enforce regulations so that Monday's test could take place. <br />Monday's test is the latest in a long-running national debate over how best to demolish <br />asbestos-contaminated structures. The city wanted to use a similar process to demolish the <br />Cowtown Inn in 2005, but called off that project because of concerns from environmentalists <br />and health officials. <br />The federal government now requires that asbestos be removed from buildings before they are <br />demolished. The alternative method used Monday calls for soaking the walls and ceilings with <br />a special foam and tearing down the building with heavy equipment without removing the <br />asbestos. If proven effective, the alternative method would make it much less costly for <br />municipalities across the country to demolish old asbestos-laden buildings that attract crime <br />and lower property values. <br />I <br />,5) C' <br />I ) <br />